My Life in Pink (1997)
(a/k/a Ma vie en rose; French with English subtitles)
"Sometimes you just have to be yourself," claims the tagline on the movie poster. Of course, being oneself is usually easiest for children, before they learn what is expected of them from society or their families.
So what happens to those children who at an early age know they are different, especially in a suburb where you know what to expect every day, where every morning the wives walk their husbands to their cars, all simultaneously, and where the same reckless neighbor in the yellow hatchback almost hits you every day? What happens when you are a seven-year-old boy who deep down knows he wants to be a girl, and marry that little boy, Jerome (Julien Riviere), across the street?
This is the moment of discovery for Ludovic (George Du Fresne); but it's not a good discovery. It is perfectly natural for Ludo to want to have long hair and wear lipstick and earrings and some pretty dresses. It even seemed perfectly natural to Jerome to allow Ludo to engage him in a play wedding. So what went wrong? The adults freaked out and the classmates instinctively move to hit the nail that stands out among the others.
While all the performances are very good--the angry neighbors, the bewildered parents, the understanding psychologist, and the vicious classmates--it is Du Fresne's portrayal of Ludovic that is absolutely amazing. It's hard to know how this child actor is able to portray this character whose innocence is shattered at this moment, when he learns to that to say what you feel is to dig your own grave (apologies to Sinnead O'Connor). Whether he is weathering the pain of disapproving parents, dressing up, or fantasizing about escaping into the World of Pam (Belguim's answer to Barbie), Du Fresne is a natural. Frankly, I don't know how he does it. Perhaps he has not had his innocence completely shattered by the real world yet.
Michele Laroque and Jean-Philippe Coffey as Ludo's trying-to-understand parents are also excellent.
This is possibly one of the best movies of the year. If you have every felt different or outside, you will find this movie hitting you in the heart; and if you are inside, you get a glimpse of what it's like for those who are outside, or rather, pushed out.
Directed by Alain Berliner.
More movie reviews by Seth Bookey, with graphics, can be found at http://www.geocities.com/Athens/2679/kino.html
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